Where's My Helga?
by Em Pataki
Summary: After saving the neighborhood, Arnold asks Helga out as a simple thank you for her help. Helga is worried there might be some sort of catch to this? Rated T for one romance scene.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: What's On Your Mind?

Obviously Arnold was a bit, oh what's the word, **razzled** when he heard Helga confess her feelings for him on top of the FTi building that night. What exactly do you believe was going through his head that night after hearing her say all those things?

Let's back up a moment and think about everything she said…

 _Who else do you think has been stalking you night and day, building shrines to you in a closet, filling volumes of books with poems about you? I love you Arnold, I've always loved you! Ever since I first laid eyes on your stupid football head! And from that moment, every moment since, I've lived and dreamed for you! Dreamed of the moment I could finally tell you my sacred feelings! To grab you and kiss you…._

Okay then. Had she not been put under the pressure of him insisting she reveal the real reason as to why she did a _pretty amazing_ thing for someone she claimed to hate, she probably would have toned it down a bit.

He just kept pushing it though, so he got a _pretty amazing_ answer! Pretty amazing, and pretty shocking!

After reciting her passionate, outspoken, monologue to her beloved, he wasn't given much time to process this. She ended it dramatically by grabbing him and kissing him hard enough to hopefully show she meant every word of what she had just said to him. Hopefully showing to him none of the hurtful, tormenting acts she had performed their previous years spent together related to how she truly felt about him.

As he stood there, being held in the arms of what he had always thought to be his biggest rival, he thought to himself...

 _Did I hear her correctly? Did she just said she LOVES me?_

After feeling she had made her point, Helga released her beloved to listen to him express his thoughts. "I'm confused. Did you just say you love me?"

Not much time was given to explain how this happened or for Arnold to process his true thoughts about this. After all, their neighborhood was about to be torn down. They didn't have time for a serious conversation when a serious task such as that needed to be taken care of.

This dilemma couldn't be ignored forever however. Just because Arnold had decided that day to allow Helga to pretend everything she said never happened didn't mean he had forgotten about it.

 _Two weeks later. P.S. 118_

 _Hallway_

"Well man, things are back to normal!" Gerald said, thinking about how happy everyone was to have their houses being fixed and the neighborhood being put back together.

"Yeah, I guess so." Arnold said, shutting the door to his locker.

Gerald examined what appeared to be a distracted look on his friend's face and asked "What's with you?"

As Arnold began to rub the back of his neck, he replied nervously "I've just had some things on my mind recently."

"What kind of things?" Gerald raised an eyebrow, digging for more information.

Arnold couldn't just flat out reveal what had happened between him and Helga that night on the FTi building. As embarrassing as it was to him, it would be ten times worse for her.

"I was thinking about asking Helga out." he said softly, knowing how crazy his friend would think he was.

"Helga? Man what's gotten into you?" Gerald wondered as his eyes lit up with surprise.

"I just wanted to thank her for helping us. She's the reason we saved the neighborhood." Arnold blurted out without remembering one tiny detail.

"She is? I know we never figured out who Deep Voice was, but something tells me it wasn't her." Gerald said wittingly, while Arnold let out a small gulp.

"Well, the thing is…" Before he could think of an excuse, he felt himself being shoved out of the way of the hallway…

"Out of my way, geek bait!"

After watching his friend being shoved into a stream of lockers by the class bully, Gerald offered Arnold a hand up and said "Oh yeah. I'm sure she'll say yes if you ask her out."

Rolling his eyes at the remark, Arnold headed towards the classroom to find Helga had taken her seat beside her best friend.

 _Classroom_

"Do you have any plans for this weekend Helga?" Phoebe asked curiously, while seeing the unamused look on her friend's face.

"Not unless you consider listening to Olga bang on my door every ten minutes while I'm trying to write in my...Arnold!" Helga screamed, seeing her secret crush turning in his desk to look at her.

"Hey Helga." he smiled nervously, trying to think of the right way to ask her out. He had a feeling she would turn him down if he asked her out in front of everyone. There weren't a whole lot of options when they were at school however.

"I mean, what do you want football head?!" she scoffed, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed.

Before Arnold could continue with his thoughts, the class heard Mr. Simmons walk in.

"Hello class! Today's going to be a very special day!"

As Helga propped her head in her hand on her desk, knowing she wouldn't be interested in anything her overly enthusiastic teacher had to say, she noticed a note being passed back to her.

Her eyes widened as she slowly blinked in bewilderment. _Why is he passing me a note? He probably just wants to politely ask me to stop shoving him in the hallway. Oh brother!_

Helga at last snatched the note as she quickly opened it to read…

 _Will you please go out with me tomorrow? I want to thank you again for helping us save the neighborhood._

Helga's hands began to shake as she continued holding the note. All sorts of mixed feelings went through her mind after reading it…

 _He...he wants to go out with me? My beloved is asking me out? Oh Arnold! Only you my love could look past the treacherous and tormentive behavior I've shown to you all these years!_

After falling into one of her dazes, she thought to herself…

 _Wait a minute? He said this was just to thank me. Plus, he already said he knew I hated him. He couldn't be asking me out on an actual date. How could I say no to him after all he's done for everyone though?_

After giving it some thought, Helga nervously tapped him on the shoulder. Normally she'd shoot a spit wad at him to get his attention. She hadn't fully recovered from her shock of being asked out by the love of her life however.

As Arnold anxiously grabbed the note, he turned back in his chair to read…

 _Okay. Don't expect me to be nice to you until then though, football head._

Just the fact he had gotten her to say yes made him start to believe everything she had said to him that night was true. Now that he was almost positive of how she felt, he had to really start considering how _he_ felt.

When the bell for lunch at last came, Helga immediately stomped past Arnold, not wanting to give him the opportunity to draw anymore attention towards them.

After watching the angry girl march out the door, Gerald turned to his best friend and said "Something tells me she said to take a rain check."

"Actually, we're going out tomorrow."

Shaking his head at the idea, Gerald replied "Mm, mm, mmm! You're a bold kid Arnold."

 _Cafeteria_

"That's wonderful Helga!" Phoebe exclaimed, after hearing about her friend's big news.

"Shhhh! Not so loud Pheebs." Helga said, hoping to discuss her emotions without Arnold hearing anything.

"Has he shared any useful information with you? That is, anything indicating how deep his feelings for you truly are?" Phoebe asked anxiously, too excited to pay her lunch any attention.

Helga sat with her arms folded on the table in front of her, not caring to humor herself by opening up her usually empty lunchbox.

"Not really. He just said he wanted to go out to thank me for helping them save the neighborhood."

"Well, the fact that his gratitude for what you did hasn't left his mind since then must indicate something's been going through his mind." Phoebe insisted.

Helga let out a deep sigh as she glanced over at her soon to be date who was standing in the lunch line with _his_ best friend.

"So, you and Pataki? Got any idea as to where you'll be taking her?" Gerald asked, while moving through the line with his best friend.

"Not really. I guess we could go out to dinner at Chez Paris." Arnold thought out loud, not noticing the crazy look on his friend's face.

"You do remember what happened the last time we were all there together don't you?"

"Well, do _you_ have any ideas?" he asked, walking towards a table, on the opposite side of the room from the girls.

"Just take her to the movies. That way you can say you did something nice for her without actually having to talk to her." Gerald said wittingly.

"I want to be able to talk to her though." Arnold was beginning to grow a bit frustrated, having not yet told his friend about his moment with Helga.

"What for?"

"Never mind." Arnold sighed, knowing the only way his friend would understand would be to confess. Would it be worth humiliating Helga however? Why did he even care if it upset her? She wasn't his girlfriend. Whether or not he believed it, she had insisted she hated him. Why wouldn't she expect him to do something like that?

"Whatever you say Arnold."

 _Classroom_

Having discussed things with Phoebe, Helga sat in her desk the rest of the afternoon, wondering what her date with her beloved would be like. Would they go out to eat, see a movie, shop together, stay at his place? Her mind was racing with thoughts.

When the bell rang, Arnold realized he had never told Helga when he would pick her up for her date. He didn't want to risk being scowled at by confronting her in front of everyone about it however.

After seeing her march past him with Phoebe, he stood in the hallway a moment, not caring to head for his locker. Gerald took one look at his frozen friend and said "Just because you're out of class doesn't mean you're home. You're going to have to move eventually."

"Huh? Oh I just needed to say something to Helga. I don't want to do it in front of all these people though."

"Not to disappoint you man, but this is a public atmosphere. You're not likely to have the place to yourself."

Rolling his eyes at the remark, Arnold sighed and said "I've got to go. I'll see ya later."

"Later."

"Shall we head over to my place to finish the assignment Helga?" Phoebe asked, knowing other things would be mentioned while they were there.

"I guess so." Helga sighed until she saw Arnold approaching. "Arnold!"

"Hey guys. Phoebe, could I talk to Helga alone?"

"Why certainly Arnold." Phoebe nodded her head, excited for her friend.

Helga nervously stood there, hoping he wouldn't bring up anything pertaining to her confession.

As Arnold began to rub his neck, he said "I uhh realized I never told you what time I'd be picking you up tomorrow."

"Oh right." Helga said, as she began to feel herself shaking…

 _Criminy! Hurry up so we can get out of here before we get caught speaking to each other!_

"Is noon okay? Maybe we could have lunch somewhere." he asked, not sure of what her schedule would be like.

"Umm sure." she gulped heavily, anxious to end the conversation.

"Great. See you tomorrow."

Seeing her best friend still standing nervously there after Arnold walked away, Phoebe returned and said "Is everything alright Helga?"

"Uhh yeah. Let's go." she insisted.

 _Boarding House_

After having left Gerald to walk home alone, this gave Arnold time to be alone with his thoughts. Where was he planning to take Helga for lunch? More important, what was he going to say to her when they went? He couldn't just be so blunt as to say "I know you were serious when you said everything to me that night we saved the neighborhood. You might as well just admit it."

Even if he did have the guts to do such a thing, this was Helga. Helga - G. - Pataki! How easily would she admit to it?

Once Arnold opened the door and watched the stream of pets pour past, he entered the kitchen to see Phil reading his paper.

"Hey there shortman!"

"Hey grandpa." Arnold sighed, taking a seat at the table.

"Oohh bad day?" Phil asked.

"I asked a girl out and I'm just wondering what to do for the date." Arnold said, propping his head in both his hands.

"Is it your little friend with the big pink boy and the one eyebrow?"

Arnold couldn't help but roll his eyes. Phil had been saying for years Helga liked him. Now here was his chance to gloat.

"Yeah, it's her."

"Haha what'd I tell ya shortman!"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do? She told me she loves me and started blurting out all these crazy things she's done in the past. Then we were both so nervous, I basically told her to just forget about it. I haven't been able to though."

"Why the heck would you tell her to forget about it?! She finally unloads her feelings and you just try shovin' 'em back inside her? Some therapist you'd be." Phil said, seeing Arnold roll his eyes yet again.

"I'm really stuck grandpa. If I tell her I know how she really feels, I know she won't admit to it."

"Not after the first way you handled it." Phil said wittingly.

"Grandpa…"

"Arnold, did I ever tell you about the day your grandma first told me she loved me?"

"No?"

"That's probably because she never said it. I had to MAKE her say it." Phil replied as Arnold eagerly listened.

"What did you do?"

"After our first few weeks going out, she was still mean as could be. I knew she had to have some sort of feelings for me though. Why the heck would she keep going out with me if she didn't? Any who... One night I was supposed to pick her up for dinner. When I went to pick her up, she was in one of her usual cranky moods. I listened to her complain about how terrible the restaurant was until finally I said…'I think we should see other people.'"

Arnold's eyes lit up as he asked "What did she say?"

"Her eyes grew the same size yours just did. She stood from her chair and screamed 'Fine!' Before she could go, I asked 'Is that really what you want?' Took some doing but I eventually got her to admit that was the last thing she wanted."

As Arnold sat, thinking about how this would relate to him and Helga, he listened to Phil add "Just remember shortman, not everyone's upfront with their feelings. At least not their sensitive ones. Hehe."

 _Phoebe's House_

"What do you suppose you'll be wearing Helga?" Phoebe asked anxiously. Although she knew her friend was nervous, she found this to be just as exciting as Helga did frightening.

Sitting against the bed with her legs pulled to her chest, Helga nervously ran her finger across the floor as she said "I don't know Pheebs. He's got to be up to something."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it Pheebs! He was the one who said this should just be 'the heat of the moment.' Now here he is asking me out pretending to thank me. He must just be trying to freak me out as badly as I did him that night."

"I don't see Arnold as being the vindictive type. If I'm recalling correctly, one of the many things you love about him is his ability to turn the other cheek on people's hostile behavior towards him." Phoebe reminded her friend as they sat in her room together.

Helga glanced over to smile weakly at her friend and said "Thanks Pheebs."

 _Arnold's Room_

Later that evening, as Arnold was preparing for bed, he was still having trouble deciding exactly how he would address the topic he had planned his date with Helga for. It was going to be awkward enough going on a date with her. Even going out in a group of friends had never seemed that normal. Dinner at Chez Paris for instance. It was highly unusual seeing her act so sophisticated.

Thoughts raced through his mind as he once again thought about the things she had said to him on FTi…

 _When did she stalk me? Stalking means to follow someone without them knowing about it. I guess that might explain why she was on my fire escape that night? Maybe that parrot I found was hers? That would explain why she tried swinging her umbrella at it. If that locket I found was hers, it would explain why it was missing when the lights went out downstairs. I do bump into her a lot…._

Arnold sat up to shake his head as he thought out loud to himself "I must be crazy. There's no way any of that is true."

Despite how scattered his mind was, Arnold did eventually drift off to sleep.

 _Helga's House_

While Arnold's mind had been able to be put to rest, Helga's was nowhere near there. She sat in her closet, gazing at the recent shrine she had made of her beloved as she said to him…

 _Oh Arnold! What horrendous condition has my lucid tongue lead us to? Shall I stand by your side tomorrow, willing to hear the words of which you speak. Or shall I spare you the chance of another misguided confession?_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Hopefully, All Will Go Well

HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!

Arnold awoke the next morning, anxious to start the day, yet nervous about his afternoon with Helga. Hopefully, she would be the normal nice person he knew she was capable of being since they would be alone. Even if she was though, there was no guarantee she would easily open up to him. Like Phil had said, not everyone is upfront with their feelings."

Whenever a big concern such as this was on his mind, Arnold always turned to his best friend Gerald. One problem; Gerald still didn't know about their 'special moment' that had taken place that night.

After considering this, Arnold thought to himself _I've got to tell him sometime. There's still a few hours before I need to pick up Helga._

RING RING RING

"Hello?"

"Hey Gerald."

"Hey man. Pataki cancel on you?"

"No, I've still got a few hours before I'm picking her up. I was wondering if you wanted to come over."

"Be right there."

 _Helga's House_

Rather than laying in bed until an irritating knock from her sister came to her bedroom door, Helga was up and ready to start the day. Perhaps that was because she never actually fell asleep.

Sitting at the kitchen counter, stirring her bowl of cereal, she sighed to herself…

 _What if he did just ask me out to thank me? Should I use this as a second chance? A chance to rationally explain to him how deep my feelings for him are._

Before Helga could even consider taking a bite of her cereal, she felt herself wrapped in another of her sister's tight hugs.

"Baby sister! I'm so happy you're not at school today! You can spend the day shopping with me!"

"Criminy! Get off me!" Helga scowled, pushing her sister off her.

"Daddy needs us to pick up his big white belt. Then I need to go to the grocery store to get some things for my yummy casserole. After that I…" Olga continued until Helga began heading for the door.

"I'm going out."

 _Arnold's Room_

"Let me get this straight. While I was outside the building, searching for a way past the guards, you and Pataki were on the roof 'getting busy''" Gerald asked

Rolling his eyes at the way his friend had worded it, Arnold replied "Gerald, we were not 'getting busy.' She was just trying to tell me some things."

"Sounds like she was trying to _do_ some things as well."

"I have a feeling she wasn't just stressed when she said all that stuff to me; she actually meant it."

"So what? You don't really feel that way about her...do you?" Gerald asked suspiciously.

A moment of silence past as Arnold let out a deep sigh, staring at the floor.

"Mm, mm, mmm! Arnold, what's gotten into you? You kiss her when the neighborhood's in danger, you ask her out when she knocks you over… AKA puts YOU in danger, now you think you love her just because she claims all those mean stunts she pulled over the years were some sort of an emotional cover."

"How am I supposed to know if I don't talk to her? I've always known she wasn't as mean as she said she was. Now's my chance to make her admit it."

"Whatever you say Arnold."

 _Helga's House_

After nervously tapping on the front door, Arnold stood and waited for someone to answer. Less than a minute later, the door swung open.

"Who are you?" Bob asked, once again not recognizing his daughter's classmate.

"I'm Arnold Mr. Pataki. I'm here to pick up Helga."

"Who?" Bob asked in confusion as Arnold's eyes lit up at the question.

"Helga? Your daughter."

"Oh right, right. HELGA! Get down here! You're little friend Alfred's here!"

As Arnold listened to the angry man shout for his daughter, the two of them heard a voice from the kitchen.

"She's not home daddy."

Turning to look at his other daughter, Bob asked "Where the heck is she?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. She left after I told her about the fun shopping I'd be doing today." Olga smiled, as she walked towards the front door.

"Sorry kid." Bob said, shutting the door in Arnold's face.

After being frozen out, Arnold looked down at his watch to see it was five minutes past noon. He didn't know where she could be.

 _Phoebe's House_

"Phoebe! You're moving like an angry wind tonight!" her father said as the two were practicing their fencing.

Phoebe didn't notice her quick movements. All she could think about was her best friend's date. Her mind remained on the wonderful opportunity this day had in store for Helga in so many ways until she heard…

"Phoebe dear, you have a phone call."

Phoebe put down her sword to walk towards the phone. _I hope Helga's not having second thoughts._

"Hello?"

"Phoebe? It's Arnold."

"Hello Arnold. Is everything alright?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you've seen Helga recently?"

"Not since yesterday. Is she not at home ready for your date?"

"No. No one knows where she is?"

"Oh my! Don't worry Arnold. I'll meet you at your place."

 _Arnold's House_

"Mm, mm, mmm! First she confess only to hear you reject her. Then you ask her out to confess, only to get bailed on. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was trying to return the favor on you." Gerald shook his head, as Arnold sat worriedly on his bed.

"What could have happened to her Gerald?"

"Calm down man. When Phoebe gets here we'll come up with a plan." Gerald assured his friend, hoping to bring a smile to his face.

Moments later, Arnold heard a polite tap at his bedroom door.

"Come in."

Phoebe then entered the room to say "I came as quickly as I could Arnold!"

"Thanks Phoebe. I don't know where she could be?"

Phoebe didn't want to reveal any information about how nervous Helga had been about this. It would only make Arnold believe Helga really was bailing on him.

"I suppose the only thing to do would be to gather our friends and search as many places as possible." Phoebe suggested.

While a ray of hope came to Arnold's eyes, Gerald shook his head and said "Man, I could have just told Timberly I'd finally play detective with her."

 _One Hour Later_

"What are we doing here Arnold? Are we puttin' together our money to buy another go kart?" Stinky asked.

"I'm afraid the purpose of our meeting isn't for amusing circumstances such as that." Phoebe replied.

Before continuing with the reason, the group watched Arnold pull out his chalk board and listened to him say.

"Okay everyone, Helga's missing!"

"Alright!" Harold exclaimed as Gerald began to shake his head "Now's not the time Bubba."

"And what may I ask do you expect us to do about it?" Rhonda sneered, having little concern for their missing classmate.

"We need to split up and search for her. I have a list of all the places we can search and the name of each person who can search there." Arnold explained as the group began to moan.

Antonio's Pizza - Harold

City Lake - Nadine

Aquarium - Eugene

Arcade - Stinky

Slausens - Phoebe

Roller Rink - Sid

Gerald Field - Gerald

Chez Paris - Rhonda

Corner Store - Lila

Avon Theater - Sheena

"I'll search the park. We can all meet back here this evening." Arnold explained anxiously.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Search

 _Antonio's Pizza_

"Hey, have you seen a girl in here?" Harold asked the hostess as he entered Antonio's Pizza.

Giving a perplexed look, the hostess asked "What kind of girl?"

"She's mean and ugly and...and makes fun of people." Harold went on trying to think of ways to describe Helga.

The hostess expected a more decisive description. After not being given one, she said "I'm sorry, I haven't. Would you like to eat with us? Maybe you'll eventually see her here."

As Harold watched the menu being held out to him, he said "Oohhh I shouldn't, but okay."

 _Walk_

As Arnold was heading down the street towards the park, he past 'Pet Love.' Arnold stopped to look in the window, thinking about his parrot. A memory then began to come back to him…

 _Oh hey Helga… what are you doing here? Buying a pet?_

Arnold had seen her sneaking up behind him, as if she was ready to grab the parrot.

"I guess she really was following me! Wow!" Arnold thought to himself before continuing his walk to the park.

 _City Lake_

"Oh it's so beautiful!" Nadine said to herself, looking at a spider egg sack she had found. As she was continuing to become more fascinated by the insects surrounding the lake than the thought of finding Helga, she heard…

"Out of the way! I own this park!"

Nadine looked over to see Rex Smythe-higgins and his grandfather.

"Thy Hydro-flame 6000 should sail much more efficiently than the 5000." Rex said, setting his boat for sail. As he was about to turn on the remote, he heard…

"Hey there!"

"Aren't you friends with that kid with the weird shaped head?" Rex asked.

"Uh yeah. I was just wondering if you've seen our friend Helga?"

"I am unfamiliar with that name." Rex said in a snobbish voice.

"She has blonde hair and wears a pink dress. She was also with us when we faced you guys during the Pig War." Nadine continued thinking of ways to job his memory until Rex finally said…

"Oh yes. I have not seen her."

 _Walk_

Arnold continued making his way to the park, thinking about how unbelievable it was that everything Helga said to him that night actually was true. As he came closer towards the park, he rounded the corner of J.J. Sausages. Before crossing the street, Arnold stood a moment and thought to himself…

 _This is the spot I ran into Helga when she handed my hat back to me. Did she know I would be here?_

 _Aquarium_

"Hi Angel! Remember me? Eugene! He waved at me!" Eugene said excitedly before turning to miss his fish being pinched by a crab.

"Excuse me Mr. Guard, Sir!" Eugene asked politely.

"What is it kid?"

"I'm looking for my friend, Helga."

"What do I look like, a chaperone? Now let's go, beat it! We're closing in ten minutes!" The guard shouted, as Eugene gave one last wave goodbye to his fish.

 _Walk_

Nearly making it to the park, Arnold looked over to see they were setting up for the Cheese Fair. That brought back a few memories. Not just hoping to enjoy his nights attempting to win over Lila and Ruth, but the reasons everything went wrong…

 _Helga bumped into me when I was walking over to say hi to Ruth. She wouldn't stop ramming into my bumper car on either of those nights. She was right behind me in the house of mirrors. I heard her shoving her way through the tunnel of love line to match the spot I was in._

 _Arcade_

"Ooohh… Whack-a-mole is up and runnin'!" Stinky said excitedly, as he entered the arcade.

Racing towards the game, Stinky said out loud to himself "Now what in the heck did I come here for again?"

Bopping the moles one by one, Stinky felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a familiar face…

"Oh hey there Ms. Gloria. How have you been?"

"Just fine Stinky. How's your friend Helga I met at the movies?" she asked politely.

"Helga! That's what I forgot. You haven't seen her have you?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Aww gee!"

 _Park_

Arnold at last made it to the park. As anxious as he was to find Helga, he was happy to be alone with his thoughts. So much information had been put into his mind recently. He needed to be able to process these thoughts.

 _Slausens_

Phoebe had been anxiously searching the streets for her best friend. How could Helga just bail on Arnold? This was the day she had always dreamed of. Helga had finally gotten the courage to reveal her feelings to Arnold, and now it appeared as though he maybe (just maybe) returning them.

Entering the ice cream parlor, Phoebe came to find the place was full, but her best friend was nowhere in site.

Approaching the counter, Phoebe asked the cashier "Umm excuse me…"

"Yes Ma'am." Wyatt, the cashier asked.

"I'm looking for my friend Helga. She had blonde hair she wears in pigtails, a unibrow, and wears a pink jumper."

After hearing the detailed description Phoebe gave of her best friend, Wyatt asked "Does she always order an extra large triple chocolate shake with two cherries and extra whipped cream?"

Phoebe's eyes widened with hope, thinking this may mean she had been there recently.

"Yes sir, she does!"

"She hasn't been here today." Wyatt said bluntly, while a frown began to form on Phoebe's face.

Where could her best friend be?

 _Park_

As Arnold circled the park, he past the spot he and Gerald often played catch in. Passing by here brought back yet another memory of Helga maybe stalking him.

As he and his best friend were tossing their baseball towards one another that day, Helga flew right past them as she was being chased by a swarm of bees.

 _Hey, wasn't that Helga? Uh huh…_

 _Roller Rink_

Entering the roller rink, hoping to find Helga, Sid began looking around only to hear…

"For crying out loud! Can't you do anything right?!"

Sid turned to see a familiar face as he walked over to ask "Coach Wittenburg? What are you doing here?"

"Huh? Oh hey kid. I'm trying to get my team in shape for the skating competition next weekend."

"Skating competition? Boy howdy! That sounds cool."

"Yeah. If these kids could just get their act together!" Coach Wittenburg shouted, making Sid rethink what he had just said.

"Uhh anyway. Have you seen Helga?"

"Helga?"

"Yeah, you know, the mean girl who was in your wedding." Sid reminded him.

"Oh yeah! No, sorry kid."

 _The Park_

After circling the park four or five times, Arnold had a good idea by that point Helga wasn't there. He decided to take a seat on the bench Lila had dumped him at. As the memory of the spot was coming back to him, he remembered Helga lurking behind him that day…

 _Hey football head how's it going?_

 _Helga, what are you doing here?_

 _Oh nothing, just climbing trees_

 _Gerald Field_

"Well, that was easy." Gerald said to himself, as he stood in front of the empty field. "Guess I could go check on Arnold."

 _The Park_

Arnold leaned back on the bench admitting to himself it had been made clear Helga wasn't lying when she said she had been stalking him. What about the other things she said. Did she really fill volumes of books with poems about him?

 _That pink book of poems I found on the bus could have been hers...which would explain why she ripped out the last page before I could read it._

 _All those anonymous poems Mr. Simmons reads in class are about somebody. Maybe she wrote them about me?_

 _I do remember her speaking to me in sort of a poetic way when we were on the golf course together._

 _Chez Paris_

"Mademoiselle?"

"Hi, I'm looking for a girl who's dress attire is way out of this league. I don't know what made my friend's think she'd be worthy of dining here, but I was told to check." Rhonda explained, receiving a puzzled look from the host.

"I see. Tell me madam, what exactly does this friend of yours look like?"

"Well, despite the poor outfit, she has blonde hair she wears in horrendous pigtails, an eyesore unibrow, and…"

"Unibrow? Is she by any chance friends with a young boy with a football shaped head?"

"Why yes. How did you know?"

"She is no longer welcome here. Not after the terrible cockroach infestation she and her friends placed upon this beautiful restaurant." The host explained.

 _The Park_

Leaning forward on the bench with his head in his heads, Arnold thought to himself…

 _I guess the poetry thing's not so shocking. I did wonder who those poems were about every day in class. What about the shrines? When has she ever…._

Arnold then thought back to the day Helga had found his hat. Did she find it or was she _returning_ it? He began to feel a bit lightheaded at the thought of her stealing something so simple just to go through the trouble of making an actual figure of him.

 _The Corner Store_

Shortly after entering the store, Lila saw Mrs. Johannson working at the register.

"Hello Mrs. Johannson!"

"Hello Lila, how are you?"

"I'm ever so certain I'm doing just fine. Have you seen my friend Helga recently?"

"No? She normally stops by to pick up a few sports magazines. I haven't seen her today though." Mrs. Johannson explained.

"Well thank you just ever so much for telling me." Lila waved goodbye as she left the story.

 _The Park_

With his head buried in his hands, leaning over the bench in exhaustion, Arnold heard someone take a seat beside him. He lifted his head to hear his best friend say "Hey man, any luck?"

Shaking his head, Arnold replied "No Gerald. I don't know what to do. All day I've been thinking about everything she said to me that night. The more time I've had to put the pieces together, the more I've realized it's all true. She really does love me. That doesn't explain why she ran away though?"

"Maybe she was afraid you'd reject her again? Girls don't take that kind of thing easy you know. That is, unless they're the one doing it to you."

As Arnold went through all the information about him and Helga in his mind again, he realized there was one thing he had forgotten about.

When Gerald saw his friend's eyes lit up, he asked "What is it man?"

"No time to talk Gerald. I'll see you later."

"He's a bold kid."

 _Avon Theater_

"How many tickets ya need?" The ticket master said in a monotone voice.

"Oh, I'm not looking to see a movie sir." Sheena said politely

"I'm going to have to ask you to step out of line then...next!"

"Actually, I was wondering if you've seen my friend Helga."

"Girl this is a movie theater. Do you have any idea how many kids I see every day? I don't know what your friend looks like!"

"Oh well, she has lovely blonde hair and sweet blue eyes and…"

"Next!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: All Alone

Arnold raced across town after leaving the park to arrive at the last place he remembered ironically bumping into Helga...The Docks.

Walking along the empty bridge, past the boats resting on the rushing water, there he saw her sitting alone on the edge of the pier.

As Helga sat on the edge, staring down at the water, she noticed another person's reflection appear beside hers.

"Hey Helga."

"ARNOLD!" she screeched, nearly falling over the edge.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he said, taking a seat beside her.

"Then stop creeping up on me!"

After a moment of silence, Helga felt the need to ask "So, how did you know I was here?"

Arnold gulped, not knowing how to explain that without simply coming out and telling her the reason he asked her out in the first place.

"Well, the thing is Helga…"

"Yeah?" she asked, cocking her brow.

"The reason I wanted to go out today was so we could talk about what happened a couple weeks ago. You know, when I found out you were Deep Voice." he said softly as her eyes began to widen.

"Uhhh...I don't know what you're talking about?"

Arnold rolled his eyes, remembering Phil saying not all girls were easily upfront about needed information.

"Come on Helga, it's just us. There's no one else with us. I've been thinking all day and I know everything you said to me that night was true." he sighed, wrapping his arm around her.

Helga gulped at the sight of him doing this. Did he actually just put his arm around her, like he was trying to comfort her?

"What is it you remember me saying? I sure as heck don't remember saying anything important." she scoffed, while Arnold could feel her shaking beneath his arm.

"I searched for you all day, and the more things I past around the city, the more memories it brought back to me of the two of us…"

"So?"

"Those memories made me see everything you said about stalking me, writing poems about me, and uhhh building shrines to me...it was all true."

Helga buried her face in her hands, knowing she couldn't hide it anymore. Even running away from the date didn't work. If anything it made her plan backfire. All it did was leave Arnold with time to process his thoughts about the whole ordeal. Whether or not she was being honest and how he honestly felt about her.

"I guess I'm pretty sick aren't I?" she sighed, as she leaned her head against his shoulder, not thinking about what she was doing.

"No you're not. I'm sorry if I made you feel rejected. It was just kind of a lot to process all at once. Especially on a big night like that." he laughed.

"Pttss...yeah well next time you know not to push me for information unless you want to be scarred for life." she scoffed, lifting her head to look into his sweet emerald eyes.

"I think I already am." he said, taking her hand in his.

A nervous look took place on both their faces. Helga's eyes widened the more she felt her beloved repeatedly rub her hand. Chills were sent through her body as she watched him slowly lean forward.

Resting his nose against hers, he said softly "You really scared me."

Helga cocked her brow against him as she asked "Really? Why?"

There faces were pressed close enough for her to feel the gulp he released before answering her question. "Because…"

"Yeah?"

"Because I love you." his heart began to pound, worried about her reaction. He realized he had nothing to worry about however when he saw the dazed facial expression this brought to her. Once again he was reminded of all the times in class he heard her reciting mushy poetic words out loud to herself when she assumed no one was around to hear her.

Seeing her in this defenseless mode made him comfortable enough to take her face in his hands and kiss her. Not quite as hard as she had done to him, but enough to get his point across.

Helga sat there feeling her beloved's sweet lips pressed against her own as she thought to herself…

 _Is this actually happening? Arnold's kissing me? He loves me? He was worried about me? Oh my beloved, never again shall I deprive you of knowing the secrets of my soul!_

Releasing her lips, he took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together as he softly said "So...now that we're together, you're not going to try to take my hat again are you?'

"Oh shut up football head." she scoffed.

"Come on, let's get something to eat. Everyone's meeting back at my place soon."

"What for?" she asked, after being helped up.

"We were all looking for you."

Rolling her eyes at his worry wart attitude, she scoffed "Pttss...I'm not five Arnoldo, I can hang out alone and find my way home when I feel like it."

"I guess. You're not alone anymore though." he winked, as she let out a heavy swoon.

 _ **THE END**_

 _ **THANKS FOR READING**_

 _ **PLEASE REVIEW**_


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